#BB16 Week 5/6: A Tangled Web of Lies and Manipulation

At the end of last week, Frankie and Zach were crowned the new HOH’s and instantly the houseguests were in fear.

Zach wanted to get Amber out of the house because Christine asked her to be a pawn and she pushed back. He believed that she didn’t trust him, was playing only for herself, and didn’t pull her weight in the alliance. All of this led to him spilling information to Nicole about being in an alliance with Cody, leading her to believe that Christine should not be trusted. Nicole relayed this information to Christine, and she was livid. The game of telephone that these players engage in is stunning.

Meanwhile, delusional Caleb, who hates pickles, ate a pickle to win a date with Amber. She went through with it, an obviously terrible idea, and throughout the entire date it was clear that he was seriously trying to court her. The whole thing was uncomfortable as Amber’s attention was placed on everything else going on around Caleb and he had no idea how thoroughly he embarrassed himself on national television.

Team America’s mission for the week was to get two houseguests to get into a heated exchange at the nomination or veto ceremonies that lasts for at least 20 seconds. Frankie and Derrick realized they could use the insanity that is Zach to their advantage, and they prod him to make an incredibly insulting speech about nominating Christine for eviction. He called Nicole a “Fruit Loop Dingus” – which has now become on ongoing theme of insult in the house. Frankie nominated Jocasta and Victoria while Zach nominated Christine and Nicole. Nicole, in a state of disbelief, laughed and cried simultaneously. Victoria cried, because … who knows. And Christine eventually called out Zach for trying to turn Nicole against her. He tried to deny it, but she patronized him and asserted she knew he did. Still, there was no heated exchange, so Team America had to try again at the veto ceremony.

At the Battle of the Block competition, the players were dressed as brides and grooms and tasked with building and climbing on top of a giant wedding cake. Victoria never listened to anyone, so Jocasta’s efforts were futile. Meanwhile, the house rooted for Christine and Nicole because everyone wanted Zach to be dethroned. Luckily, that came to pass and a wedding cake sprung into his face.

Everyone was nervous at to what would happen if the veto was used, so Hayden got proactive, promising to use the veto on Victoria if she picked him to play. And magically, she got Houseguest’s Choice and picked him. Like it was choreographed, Hayden won the veto and a plan was put in motion to backdoor Amber. Hayden went along with it since he was already planning on using the veto. Zach convinced Caleb that Amber isn’t loyal to their alliance and that they needed to scare get back to their side.

At the Veto Ceremony, Hayden used the veto on Victoria and Amber was thrown up onto the block with Frankie making claims of distrust. Then Zach jumped up and laid into her. And though #TeamAmerica hoped that his tirade would incite the confrontation that was their mission for the week, everyone stayed quiet. Mission Failed.

Amber was livid with Zach for his disrespectful behavior. Meanwhile, Caleb realized that it was wrong to put Amber on the block, and he shouldered all of the guilt. In what I can only assume was an effort to get votes for her to stay, Amber told Christine that Caleb was her #1 target since he was ruining her game. Christine relayed this information to the guys, hoping to make this a reason for keeping her around. They in turn see it as the perfect way to make sure Caleb voted her out.

Team America got a new last-minute mission, to vote against the majority of the house and then publicly blame two other houseguests for the votes. The trio decided not to carry it out though, since Donny was adamant that it would completely fly in the face of his character.

As a result, Amber was sent home, and in the farewell videos, Caleb proclaimed (again) he was the king of the house.

In week 6, Nicole and Donny took the HOH crowns, and for the first time, no dominant alliance member was running things in the house. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t pull all the strings. Nicole nominated Zach and Jocasta. Donny nominated Caleb and Victoria. The most irksome aspect of this season so far has been that no one is playing hard when it comes to nominations. Everyone is just trying to keep the blood off of their hands, hoping to coast into the finals. That is not how this game is supposed to be played, folks.

Despite the curse of Victoria being a terrible competitor, Caleb and Victoria actually won the Battle of the Block, dethroning Donny but also earning the humorous penalty of them being chained to each other for 24 hours. The word around the house was that Zach was the target, but Nicole launched a new alliance with Hayden, Derrick, and Cody called “The Rationale” (WTH), and their ultimate plan was to backdoor Frankie for all of his scurrying around the house.

This plan fell flat when Christine won the veto and decided not to use it. Then the house became a whirlwind of paranoia. Zach was the target, with everyone believing that he is a loose cannon, but then Derrick and Cody came to the realization that voting him out lessens their numbers in the house, and they somehow believed that they were being played by Nicole and Hayden. This obviously makes no sense since the couple was completely unaware that another alliance existed in the house, but all that time without television, cell phones, or changes of scenery can play tricks on the mind.

Ultimately, Derrick and Cody went back to their Detonator comrades and spilled the beans about the plan to backdoor Frankie. This looks like obviously terrible gameplay, since they are exposing that they knew about this plan but didn’t tell anyone until after the veto ceremony, but it did the trick and the votes shifted to vote out Jocasta. Now, the Detonators seem to be realigned (at least for the moment), and the rest of the houseguests would be complete imbeciles if they don’t see the writing on the wall now.

Houseguest I’d Like to Evict: Christine

Her gameplay has turned foul over the past two weeks. Initially, she looked like someone just likeable and shrewd enough to win the whole thing, she is trying to play too many sides of the house and she has become increasingly ruthless in her methods. She lied to her “friend” Nicole, trying to turn her against Hayden, her boyfriend in the house. She has this obsession with getting rid of Zach (not a bad goal), and it seems like she actually has no true allegiance to anyone in the house. It is only a matter of time before her triple-crossing ways come back to bite her in the ass.

Next week, I’ll recap the Double Eviction night and the changing face of the house as most of the easy targets have been evicted. Get ready for a huge shakeup!